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I came to know about the weekend herb blogging from Srivalli's Cooking 4 All Seasons blog, which is an event started by Kalyan of kalynskitchen. Being from the state of Rajasthan, I took this opportunity to introduce the quintessential Rajasthani dish of all times - The Panchkuta. This dish is essentially made up of 5 ingredients found widely across the Great Thar Desert. For ages, this has been the mainstay food of travellers across the desert. It has long shelf life after being cooked and does not require refrigeration unlike other foods. In case you are travelling through Rajasthan, don't be amused if you find your fellow traveller pulling up a box of Panchkuta with pooris/rotis and enjoying his lunch/dinner.

The five ingredients of Panchkuta are sangri, kair, Kumat, Goonda and dry red chillies.

Sangri ( Prosopis cineraria ) - Sangri ki phali (pods of the khejari tree) grows in Rajasthan. This is the protein powerhouse of the desert with 53 per cent protein. Linky

Kair ( Capparis decidua ) - This is a wild berry which grows on the shrubs in the Thar. LinkyKumat ( Acacia Senegal ) - Seeds from the pods of this small deciduous tree. Linky

Other ingredient which form part of the Panchkuta is goonda (Cordia mixa) Linky. With the current place I am in, I couldn't get this.The taste of this dish is slightly different and has to be developed. If you taste it after soaking/boiling them, it might not be that agreeable, but once the dish is ready, the taste comes out really well.

What a coincidence, I just posted Ker Sangri a week ago - I found the ker and sangri quite unexpectedly in a store near my home. I followed Tarla Dalal's recipe and she didn't include Kumat, but I saw it in some other recipes on the Net and wondered what it was used for.

@ srayour sangri also look delicious...I made panchkuta that's why I used kumat else kair sangri recipe doesn't call for kumat.I missed Goonda in this recipe In rajasthan we also get the pickle of kair sangri and goonda.

Hey, I noticed that you live in US, so how did you get these ingredients here? Did you get them from India or made this dish while you were in India. Just curious as I would love to get my hands on these ingredients too :)

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Degchi

A metal pot normally with good depth, round in shape, a very common utensil used in Indian cooking.The Degchi is traditionally made of brass or copper, but stainless steel is also available today. The Degchis neck is narrower than its round, thick base, making it a versatile pan for making biryanis, cooking sauces, gravies and milk-base dishes.